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Saturday, April 26, 2014

Vatican City, 26 April 2014 (VIS) –
Today, in the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Prime Minister of
Ukraine, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, was received in audience by the Holy
Father Francis. He subsequently went on to meet with Cardinal
Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, accompanied by the secretary for
Relations with States, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti.

The cordial discussions, which took
place within the context of good bilateral relations between the Holy
See and Ukraine, focused on the current situation; the hope was
expressed that all the parties involved will collaborate
constructively to re-establish political and social stability
throughout the country, in accordance with international law, and to
promote understanding between peoples in the region. Attention then
turned to the specific role that Churches and religious
organisations, as well as all believers, are called upon to fulfil in
fostering mutual respect and harmony among all components of society.

Finally, mention was made of possible
further initiatives by the international community in this regard.

Vatican City, 26 April 2014 (VIS) –
The city of Rome is preparing to receive hundreds of thousands of
faithful for the canonisation of John XXIII and John Paul II in St.
Peter's Square tomorrow, which will be attended by delegations from
more than 100 countries and at least 24 Heads of State.

Already during this past week the Opera
Romana Pellegrinaggi (ORP) has installed 19 maxi-screens to enable
faithful and pilgrims to see the ceremony for the canonisation of the
two Popes in both Rome and Milan. Three will be located in the
central Via dei Fori Imperiali, one at Rome's Fiumicino airport and
another in Piazza del Duomo, Milan. However, the majority of these
new screens will be set up in the streets adjacent to St. Peter's
Square: Via della Conciliazione, Piazza Pio XII, and in the
pedestrian zone and gardens of Castel Sant'Angelo. There are screens
in Piazza Navona and Piazza Farnese for Polish- and French-speaking
pilgrims respectively, and another at the Basilica of St. Mary Major.
News and films relating to the two Popes, as well as public service
information, will be broadcast in six languages until Monday 28
April.

Bishop Liberio Andreatta, commenting on
this unprecedented event, remarks: “Never in the history of Rome or
in the history of the world has this occurred: two Pope Saints and
two living Popes who knew them”. There is, therefore, a rich and
varied agenda of activities preceding the event. Yesterday, French
pilgrims began their “Path of Holiness” which will conclude on 27
April; it consists of an itinerary of art and faith taking in the
five churches of the French community in Rome. Similarly, university
students planning to attend the canonisation took part in Mass in the
chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas at the University of Rome “Tor
Vergata”. Today, at 6 p.m., pilgrims from Bergamo, the province
where John XXIII was born, will gather in the Basilica of St. John
Lateran, while at 7 p.m. a prayer vigil will begin at the church of
Santa Maria in Montesanto, “the artists' church”, in Piazza del
Popolo.

At 9 p.m. the “white night” of
prayer will begin. Churches in the centre of Rome will remain open
for prayer vigils or confession, and liturgical celebrations will
take place in various languages in the churches of Sant' Agnese in
Agone, San Marco al Campidoglio, Sant'Anastasia, Santissimo Nome di
Gesu, Santa Maria in Vallicella, San Giovanni dei Fiorentini,
Sant'Andrea della Valle, San Bartolomeo all'Isola Tiberina,
Sant'Ignazio di Loyola in Campo Marzio, the Holy Stigmata of St.
Francis, the Twelve Apostles, and the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of
Jesus. The young people of Catholic Action will meet in the parish of
Santa Maria delle Grazie al Trionfale from 10.30 p.m. until 5 a.m on
27 April.

Tomorrow, 100 members of the ORP and
550 volunteers from Catholic associations will be available to assist
those present in Via della Conciliazione, providing all types of
information. From 5 a.m. eight buses will transport to St. Peter's
Square 200 priests and deacons for the distribution of the Eucharist,
as well as 5000 Roman priests and 200 seminarians from the capital
and from Bergamo, who will attend the ceremony. Bishop Andreatta
emphasises that entry to St. Peter's Square is free and there are no
tickets. The Prefecture of the Papal Household has also issued a
reminder to the public to be vigilant regarding ticket touting and
requests for money from agencies and tour operators for the purposes
of obtaining tickets, reiterating that participation in celebrations
presided by the Holy Father is entirely free.

The municipality of Rome has made
special transport provisions for this period. The metro lines will be
open around the clock from 26 to 28 April, the number of buses in
service will increase, policing will be reinforced and there will be
fourteen mobile medical units, as well as 2,630 civil protection
volunteers in active service.

The internet will also play a role
during these special days. The Office of the Postulation of the
Vicariate of Rome has created a free App, “Santo Subito”,
available in four languages and providing news, maps, itineraries and
an order of service for the canonisation ceremony, along with an
agenda of all the events planned from 25 to 28 April.

The Vatican Museums are celebrating the
canonisation with a photographic exhibition entitled “The humility
and courage that changed history”, which presents 120 photographs
of the two Pope saints. This photographic anthology, which will
remain open to the public until 19 July, is divided into two
sections: the first, entirely in black and white, narrates the
pontificate of John XXIII, whereas the second, in colour, presents
that of John Paul II, the longest of the twentieth century.

Vatican City, 26 April 2014 (VIS) –
Blessed Pope John XXIII was born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli at Sotto il
Monte, Italy, in the Diocese of Bergamo on 25 November 1881. He was
the fourth in a family of 14. The family worked as sharecroppers. It
was a patriarchal family in the sense that the families of two
brothers lived together, headed by his great-uncle Zaverio, who had
never married and whose wisdom guided the work and other business of
the family. Zaverio was Angelo's godfather, and to him he always
attributed his first and most fundamental religious education. The
religious atmosphere of his family and the fervent life of the
parish, under the guidance of Fr. Francesco Rebuzzini, provided him
with training in the Christian life.

He entered the Bergamo seminary in
1892. Here he began the practice of making spiritual notes, which he
continued in one form or another until his death, and which have been
gathered together in the “Journal of a Soul”. Here he also began
the deeply cherished practice of regular spiritual direction. In 1896
he was admitted to the Secular Franciscan Order by the spiritual
director of the Bergamo seminary, Fr. Luigi Isacchi; he made a
profession of its Rule of life on 23 May 1897.

From 1901 to 1905 he was a student at
the Pontifical Roman Seminary. On 10 August 1904 he was ordained a
priest in the church of Santa Maria in Monte Santo in Rome's Piazza
del Popolo. In 1905 he was appointed secretary to the new Bishop of
Bergamo, Giacomo Maria Radini Tedeschi. He accompanied the Bishop in
his pastoral visitations and collaborated with him in his many
initiatives: a Synod, management of the diocesan bulletin,
pilgrimages, social works. In the seminary he taught history,
patrology and apologetics. He was an elegant, profound, effective and
sought-after preacher.

These were the years of his deepening
spiritual encounter with two saints who were outstanding pastors: St
Charles Borromeo and St Francis de Sales. They were years, too, of
deep pastoral involvement and apprenticeship, as he spent every day
beside "his" Bishop, Radini Tedeschi. When the Bishop died
in 1914, Fr. Angelo continued to teach in the seminary and to
minister in various pastoral areas.

When Italy went to war in 1915 he was
drafted as a sergeant in the medical corps and became a chaplain to
wounded soldiers. When the war ended, he opened a "Student
House" for the spiritual needs of young people.

In 1919 he was made spiritual director
of the seminary, but in 1921 he was called to the service of the Holy
See. Benedict XV brought him to Rome to be the Italian president of
the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. In 1925 Pius XI named
him Apostolic Visitator in Bulgaria, raising him to the episcopate
with the titular Diocese of Areopolis. For his Episcopal motto he
chose Oboedientia et Pax, which became his guiding motto for the rest
of his life.

On 19 March 1925 he was consecrated a
Bishop and left for Bulgaria. He was granted the title of apostolic
delegate and remained in Bulgaria until 1935, visiting Catholic
communities and establishing relationships of respect and esteem with
the other Christian communities. In the aftermath of the 1928
earthquake his solicitude was everywhere present. He endured in
silence the misunderstandings and other difficulties of a ministry on
the fringes of society, and thus refined his sense of trust and
abandonment to Jesus crucified.

In 1935 he was appointed as apostolic
delegate in Turkey and Greece. The Catholic Church was present in
many ways in the young Turkish republic. His ministry among the
Catholics was intense, and his respectful approach and dialogue with
the worlds of Orthodoxy and Islam became a feature of his tenure.
When the Second World War broke out he was in Greece. He tried to get
news from the prisoners of war to their families and assisted many
Jews to escape by issuing "transit visas" from the
Apostolic Delegation. In December 1944 Pius XII appointed him Nuncio
in France.

During the last months of the war and
the beginning of peace he aided prisoners of war and helped to
normalise the ecclesiastical organisation of France. He visited the
great shrines of France and participated in popular feasts and in
important religious celebrations. He was an attentive, prudent and
positive observer of the new pastoral initiatives of the Bishops and
clergy of France. His approach was always characterised by a striving
for Gospel simplicity, even amid the most complex diplomatic
questions. The sincere piety of his interior life found expression
each day in prolonged periods of prayer and meditation. In 1953 he
was created a Cardinal and sent to Venice as Patriarch. He was filled
with joy at the prospect of ending his days in the direct care of
souls, as he had always desired since becoming a priest. He was a
wise and enterprising pastor, following the model pastors he had
always venerated and walking in the footsteps of St Laurence
Giustiniani, first Patriarch of Venice. As he advanced in years his
trust in the Lord grew in the midst of energetic, enterprising and
joyful pastoral labours.

At the death of Pius XII he was elected
Pope on 28 October 1958, taking the name John XXIII. His pontificate,
which lasted less than five years, presented him to the entire world
as an authentic image of the Good Shepherd. Meek and gentle,
enterprising and courageous, simple and active, he carried out the
Christian duties of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy:
visiting the imprisoned and the sick, welcoming those of every nation
and faith, bestowing on all his exquisite fatherly care. His social
magisterium in the Encyclicals Pacem in terris and Mater et Magistra
was deeply appreciated.

He convoked the Roman Synod,
established the Commission for the Revision of the Code of Canon Law
and summoned the Second Vatican Council. He was present as Bishop in
his Diocese of Rome through his visitation of the parishes,
especially those in the new suburbs. The faithful saw in him a
reflection of the goodness of God and called him "the good
Pope". He was sustained by a profound spirit of prayer. He
launched an extensive renewal of the Church, while radiating the
peace of one who always trusted in the Lord. Pope John XXIII died on
the evening of 3 June 1963, in a spirit of profound trust in Jesus
and of longing for his embrace.

He was beatified by John Paul II on 3
September 2000. His liturgical feast day is 11 October, the day of
the opening of Vatican Council II.

In his homily, John Paul II pronounced
the following words about his predecessor:

“Today we contemplate in the glory of
the Lord another Pontiff, John XXIII, the Pope who impressed the
world with the friendliness of his manner which radiated the
remarkable goodness of his soul. By divine design their beatification
links these two Popes who lived in very different historical contexts
but, beyond appearances, share many human and spiritual similarities.
Pope John's deep veneration for Pius IX, to whose beatification he
looked forward, is well known. During a spiritual retreat in 1959, he
wrote in his diary: "I always think of Pius IX of holy and
glorious memory, and by imitating him in his sacrifices, I would like
to be worthy to celebrate his canonization" (Journal of a Soul,
Ed. San Paolo, 2000, p. 560)”.

“Everyone remembers the image of Pope
John's smiling face and two outstretched arms embracing the whole
world. How many people were won over by his simplicity of heart,
combined with a broad experience of people and things! The breath of
newness he brought certainly did not concern doctrine, but rather the
way to explain it; his style of speaking and acting was new, as was
his friendly approach to ordinary people and to the powerful of the
world. It was in this spirit that he called the Second Vatican
Ecumenical Council, thereby turning a new page in the Church's
history: Christians heard themselves called to proclaim the Gospel
with renewed courage and greater attentiveness to the "signs"
of the times”.

“The Council was a truly prophetic
insight of this elderly Pontiff who, even amid many difficulties,
opened a season of hope for Christians and for humanity”.

“In the last moments of his earthly
life, he entrusted his testament to the Church: "What counts the
most in life is blessed Jesus Christ, his holy Church, his Gospel,
truth and goodness". We too wish to receive this testament, as
we glorify God for having given him to us as a Pastor”.

Vatican City, 26 April 2014 (VIS) –
Karol Jozef Wojtyla, known as John Paul II since his October 1978
election to the papacy, was born in the Polish town of Wadowice, a
small city fifty kilometres from Krakow, on 18 May 1920. He was the
youngest of three children born to Karol Wojtyla and Emilia
Kaczorowska. His mother died in 1929. His eldest brother Edmund, a
doctor, died in 1932 and his father, a non-commissioned army officer
died in 1941. A sister, Olga, had died before he was born.

He was baptised on June 20, 1920 in the
parish church of Wadowice by Fr. Franciszek Zak, made his First Holy
Communion at age 9 and was confirmed at 18. Upon graduation from
Marcin Wadowita high school in Wadowice, he enrolled in Krakow's
Jagiellonian University in 1938 and in a school for drama.

The Nazi occupation forces closed the
university in 1939 and young Karol had to work in a quarry
(1940-1944) and then in the Solvay chemical factory to earn his
living and to avoid being deported to Germany.

In 1942, aware of his call to the
priesthood, he began courses in the clandestine seminary of Krakow,
run by Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha, archbishop of Krakow. At the
same time, Karol Wojtyla was one of the pioneers of the "Rhapsodic
Theatre," also clandestine.

After the Second World War, he
continued his studies in the major seminary of Krakow, once it had
re-opened, and in the faculty of theology of the Jagiellonian
University. He was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Sapieha
in Krakow on November 1, 1946.

Shortly afterwards, Cardinal Sapieha
sent him to Rome where he worked under the guidance of the French
Dominican, Garrigou-Lagrange. He finished his doctorate in theology
in 1948 with a thesis on the subject of faith in the works of St.
John of the Cross (Doctrina de fide apud Sanctum Ioannem a Cruce). At
that time, during his vacations, he exercised his pastoral ministry
among the Polish immigrants of France, Belgium and Holland.

In 1948 he returned to Poland and was
vicar of various parishes in Krakow as well as chaplain to university
students. This period lasted until 1951 when he again took up his
studies in philosophy and theology. In 1953 he defended a thesis on
"evaluation of the possibility of founding a Catholic ethic on
the ethical system of Max Scheler" at Lublin Catholic
University. Later he became professor of moral theology and social
ethics in the major seminary of Krakow and in the Faculty of Theology
of Lublin.

On July 4, 1958, he was appointed
titular bishop of Ombi and auxiliary of Krakow by Pope Pius XII, and
was consecrated September 28, 1958, in Wawel Cathedral, Krakow, by
Archbishop Eugeniusz Baziak.

On January 13, 1964, he was appointed
archbishop of Krakow by Pope Paul VI, who made him a cardinal June
26, 1967 with the title of S. Cesareo in Palatio of the order of
deacons, later elevated pro illa vice to the order of priests.

Besides taking part in Vatican Council
II (1962-1965) where he made an important contribution to drafting
the Constitution Gaudium et spes, Cardinal Wojtyla participated in
all the assemblies of the Synod of Bishops.

The Cardinals elected him Pope at the
Conclave of 16 October 1978, and he took the name of John Paul II. On
22 October, the Lord's Day, he solemnly inaugurated his Petrine
ministry as the 263rd successor to the Apostle. His pontificate, one
of the longest in the history of the Church, lasted nearly 27 years.

Driven by his pastoral solicitude for
all Churches and by a sense of openness and charity to the entire
human race, John Paul II exercised the Petrine ministry with a
tireless missionary spirit, dedicating it all his energy. He made 104
pastoral visits outside Italy and 146 within Italy. As bishop of Rome
he visited 317 of the city's 333 parishes.

He had more meetings than any of his
predecessors with the people of God and the leaders of nations. More
than 17,600,000 pilgrims participated in the General Audiences held
on Wednesdays (more than 1160), not counting other special audiences
and religious ceremonies (more than 8 million pilgrims during the
Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 alone), and the millions of faithful
he met during pastoral visits in Italy and throughout the world. We
must also remember the numerous government personalities he
encountered during 38 official visits, 738 audiences and meetings
held with Heads of State, and 246 audiences and meetings with Prime
Ministers.

His love for young people brought him
to establish the World Youth Days. The 19 WYDs celebrated during his
pontificate brought together millions of young people from all over
the world. At the same time his care for the family was expressed in
the World Meetings of Families, which he initiated in 1994.

John Paul II successfully encouraged
dialogue with the Jews and with the representatives of other
religions, whom he several times invited to prayer meetings for
peace, especially in Assisi.

Under his guidance the Church prepared
herself for the third millennium and celebrated the Great Jubilee of
the year 2000 in accordance with the instructions given in the
Apostolic Letter Tertio Millennio adveniente. The Church then faced
the new epoch, receiving his instructions in the Apostolic Letter
Novo Millennio ineunte, in which he indicated to the faithful their
future path.

With the Year of the Redemption, the
Marian Year and the Year of the Eucharist, he promoted the spiritual
renewal of the Church.

He gave an extraordinary impetus to
Canonizations and Beatifications, focusing on countless examples of
holiness as an incentive for the people of our time. He celebrated
147 beatification ceremonies during which he proclaimed 1,338
Blesseds; and 51 canonizations for a total of 482 saints. He made
Therese of the Child Jesus a Doctor of the Church.

He considerably expanded the College of
Cardinals, creating 231 Cardinals (plus one in pectore) in 9
consistories. He also called six full meetings of the College of
Cardinals.

He organized 15 Assemblies of the Synod
of Bishops - six Ordinary General Assemblies (1980, 1983, 1987, 1990,
1994 and 2001), one Extraordinary General Assembly (1985) and eight
Special Assemblies (1980,1991, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998 (2) and 1999).

He promulgated the Catechism of the
Catholic Church in the light of Tradition as authoritatively
interpreted by the Second Vatican Council. He also reformed the
Eastern and Western Codes of Canon Law, created new Institutions and
reorganized the Roman Curia.

As a private Doctor he also published
five books of his own: "Crossing the Threshold of Hope"
(October 1994), "Gift and Mystery, on the fiftieth anniversary
of my ordination as priest" (November 1996), "Roman
Triptych" poetic meditations (March 2003), "Arise, Let us
Be Going" (May 2004) and "Memory and Identity"
(February 2005).

In the light of Christ risen from the
dead, on 2 April a.D. 2005, at 9.37 p.m., while Saturday was drawing
to a close and the Lord's Day was already beginning, the Octave of
Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday, the Church's beloved Pastor, John
Paul II, departed this world for the Father.

From that evening until April 8, date
of the funeral of the late Pontiff, more than three million pilgrims
came to Rome to pay homage to the mortal remains of the Pope. Some of
them queued up to twenty-four hours to enter St. Peter's Basilica.

On April 28, the Holy Father Benedict
XVI announced that the normal five-year waiting period before
beginning the cause of beatification and canonization would be waived
for John Paul II. The cause was officially opened by Cardinal Camillo
Ruini, vicar general for the diocese of Rome, on June 28 2005.

He was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI
on 1 May 2011, who, in his homily, remembered him thus:

“Today our eyes behold, in the full
spiritual light of the risen Christ, the beloved and revered figure
of John Paul II. Today his name is added to the host of those whom he
proclaimed saints and blesseds during the almost twenty-seven years
of his pontificate, thereby forcefully emphasizing the universal
vocation to the heights of the Christian life, to holiness, taught by
the conciliar Constitution on the Church, Lumen gentium”.

“In his Testament, the new Blessed
wrote: 'When, on 16 October 1978, the Conclave of Cardinals chose
John Paul II, the Primate of Poland, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, said
to me: "The task of the new Pope will be to lead the Church into
the Third Millennium"'. And the Pope added: 'I would like once
again to express my gratitude to the Holy Spirit for the great gift
of the Second Vatican Council, to which, together with the whole
Church - and especially with the whole episcopate - I feel indebted.
I am convinced that it will long be granted to the new generations to
draw from the treasures that this Council of the twentieth century
has lavished upon us. As a Bishop who took part in the Council from
the first to the last day, I desire to entrust this great patrimony
to all who are and will be called in the future to put it into
practice. For my part, I thank the Eternal Shepherd, who has enabled
me to serve this very great cause in the course of all the years of
my Pontificate'. And what is this 'cause'? It is the same one that
John Paul II presented during his first solemn Mass in Saint Peter's
Square in the unforgettable words: 'Do not be afraid! Open, open wide
the doors to Christ!' What the newly-elected Pope asked of everyone,
he was himself the first to do: society, culture, political and
economic systems he opened up to Christ, turning back with the
strength of a titan - a strength which came to him from God - a tide
which appeared irreversible. By his witness of faith, love and
apostolic courage, accompanied by great human charisma, this
exemplary son of Poland helped believers throughout the world not to
be afraid to be called Christian, to belong to the Church, to speak
of the Gospel. In a word: he helped us not to fear the truth, because
truth is the guarantee of liberty. To put it even more succinctly: he
gave us the strength to believe in Christ, because Christ is
Redemptor hominis, the Redeemer of man. This was the theme of his
first encyclical, and the thread which runs though all the others”.

“When Karol Wojtyla ascended to the
throne of Peter, he brought with him a deep understanding of the
difference between Marxism and Christianity, based on their
respective visions of man. This was his message: man is the way of
the Church, and Christ is the way of man. With this message, which is
the great legacy of the Second Vatican Council and of its 'helmsman',
the Servant of God Pope Paul VI, John Paul II led the People of God
across the threshold of the Third Millennium, which thanks to Christ
he was able to call 'the threshold of hope'. Throughout the long
journey of preparation for the great Jubilee he directed Christianity
once again to the future, the future of God, which transcends history
while nonetheless directly affecting it. He rightly reclaimed for
Christianity that impulse of hope which had in some sense faltered
before Marxism and the ideology of progress. He restored to
Christianity its true face as a religion of hope, to be lived in
history in an 'Advent' spirit, in a personal and communitarian
existence directed to Christ, the fullness of humanity and the
fulfilment of all our longings for justice and peace”.

Vatican City, 26 April 2014 (VIS) – A
letter was published today, in Latin and dated 21 March, by which the
Holy Father appoints Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the
Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, as his special envoy
to the consecration of the shrine of St. Augustine of Hippo (recently
restored) on the centenary of its elevation to a Basilica, which will
take place in Annaba, Algeria on 2 May 2014. The mission accompanying
the Cardinal will be composed of Msgr. Christian Mauvais, vicar
general of the archdiocese of Algiers, and Fr. Michel Guillaud of the
diocese of Constantine/Hippo.

Vatican City, 26 April 2014 (VIS) –
The Holy Father has accepted the resignation from the pastoral care
of the diocese of Loikaw, Myanmar, presented by Bishop Sotero Phamo,
in accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law, and
has appointed Bishop Stephen Tjephe, auxiliary of the same diocese,
as apostolic administrator “sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae
Sedis”.